A coalition of disability rights advocates filed a class-action suit Thursday seeking to stop Los Angeles County from closing the renowned Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, says the closure would violate the federal Americans With Disabilities Act and other legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disabilities, because many patients would have nowhere else to turn for treatment.

UC Berkeley is making its vast library collections and course textbooks more readily available to students with visual and other impairments under an agreement reached Tuesday that could set a precedent for universities nationwide. The settlement with the nonprofit legal group Disability Rights Advocates was reached after more than a year of negotiations and will provide students with physical, developmental, learning and visual disabilities more timely access to printed materials in alternative formats such as Braille, large print and audio.

In a landmark court settlement proposed Tuesday, Caltrans agreed to spend $1.1 billion over the next 30 years to repair and improve state-controlled sidewalks, crosswalks and park-and-ride facilities so they are accessible for people with disabilities. The settlement, filed at the federal courthouse in Oakland, was a major victory for civil rights activists, who have been battling for years with the transportation agency to provide equal access to public rights-of-way for the blind and those who use wheelchairs, canes or walkers.

As if Stephanie Enyart wasn't stressed enough when she took the Law School Admissions Test, the man hired by the exam administrators to read the questions to the legally blind Berkeley woman turned up sick. He sneezed and coughed. The words came out in a nasal mumble. He interrupted his reading every few minutes to blow his nose, use the restroom or get tea to ease his congestion. Even though she was allotted double time to compensate for her disability, Enyart said her score also suffered because she was denied the use of her computer software programs that magnify text and convert it to speech heard through an ear bud. Enyart, however, did well enough to get into UCLA Law School and graduated this spring.

Several hundred airport service workers marched Thursday through Los Angeles International Airport as part of a statewide campaign to improve their pay and working conditions. Skycaps, security officers, cabin cleaners, wheelchair attendants and baggage handlers rallied at LAX from 1 to 2 p.m. and marched through the passenger terminals. No arrests or incidents were reported. The workers were joined by representatives of the Service Employees International Union and the Reaching Higher Coalition, an organization of community groups, churches and disability rights advocates.

Harlan Hahn, a longtime USC professor of political science and champion of disability rights who successfully sued the university to improve access for disabled people campuswide, died April 23 at his Santa Monica home. He was 68. The cause was a heart attack, said his daughter, Emily. Hahn was already in the vanguard of the disability rights movement when he joined the USC faculty to teach political science in 1972. He pushed for the U.S.

Civil rights advocates asserted in federal court Wednesday that California's highway agency has denied people with disabilities equal access to sidewalks throughout the state by failing to install wheelchair ramps and warnings for the blind at street corners. The class-action lawsuit, which went to trial before U.S. District Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong in Oakland, alleges that Caltrans has violated the 1992 Americans with Disabilities Act, a federal law that requires improvements in accessibility whenever sidewalks and roads are built or undergo major repairs.

A Bay Area advocacy group filed a federal lawsuit charging the Robinsons-May department-store chain with violating the Americans With Disabilities Act, citing aisles too narrow and counters too tall for wheelchairs, among other things. The suit, filed by Disability Rights Advocates, comes seven months after the group won a judgment against Macy's West, owned by Federated Department Stores Inc., forcing the company to make a variety of changes at its flagship San Francisco store.

When John Lonberg travels the sidewalks outside his Riverside home, he is constantly reminded of the inequities of being in a wheelchair. Within sight of his home on Kloiber Street are at least a dozen possible violations of civil rights laws that grant the disabled equal access to public rights of way. Buckled sidewalks obstruct his path, street corners lack wheelchair ramps, and sloping driveways that cross sidewalks are difficult to navigate.

The predictable result came in last week from forcing students with disabilities to pass a high school exit exam in order to earn a diploma. Nearly half failed. Failed. A demoralizing word for some kids who struggle daily to perform tasks most teens carry out with ease. The psychological damage "is horrific," says Sid Wolinsky, director of litigation for Disability Rights Advocates, which fought unsuccessfully for alternative ways to measure the knowledge of special education students.

In a landmark court settlement proposed Tuesday, Caltrans agreed to spend $1.1 billion over the next 30 years to repair and improve state-controlled sidewalks, crosswalks and park-and-ride facilities so they are accessible for people with disabilities. The settlement, filed at the federal courthouse in Oakland, was a major victory for civil rights activists, who have been battling for years with the transportation agency to provide equal access to public rights-of-way for the blind and those who use wheelchairs, canes or walkers.

Civil rights advocates asserted in federal court Wednesday that California's highway agency has denied people with disabilities equal access to sidewalks throughout the state by failing to install wheelchair ramps and warnings for the blind at street corners. The class-action lawsuit, which went to trial before U.S. District Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong in Oakland, alleges that Caltrans has violated the 1992 Americans with Disabilities Act, a federal law that requires improvements in accessibility whenever sidewalks and roads are built or undergo major repairs.

The predictable result came in last week from forcing students with disabilities to pass a high school exit exam in order to earn a diploma. Nearly half failed. Failed. A demoralizing word for some kids who struggle daily to perform tasks most teens carry out with ease. The psychological damage "is horrific," says Sid Wolinsky, director of litigation for Disability Rights Advocates, which fought unsuccessfully for alternative ways to measure the knowledge of special education students.

Several hundred airport service workers marched Thursday through Los Angeles International Airport as part of a statewide campaign to improve their pay and working conditions. Skycaps, security officers, cabin cleaners, wheelchair attendants and baggage handlers rallied at LAX from 1 to 2 p.m. and marched through the passenger terminals. No arrests or incidents were reported. The workers were joined by representatives of the Service Employees International Union and the Reaching Higher Coalition, an organization of community groups, churches and disability rights advocates.

Harlan Hahn, a longtime USC professor of political science and champion of disability rights who successfully sued the university to improve access for disabled people campuswide, died April 23 at his Santa Monica home. He was 68. The cause was a heart attack, said his daughter, Emily. Hahn was already in the vanguard of the disability rights movement when he joined the USC faculty to teach political science in 1972. He pushed for the U.S.

When John Lonberg travels the sidewalks outside his Riverside home, he is constantly reminded of the inequities of being in a wheelchair. Within sight of his home on Kloiber Street are at least a dozen possible violations of civil rights laws that grant the disabled equal access to public rights of way. Buckled sidewalks obstruct his path, street corners lack wheelchair ramps, and sloping driveways that cross sidewalks are difficult to navigate.

As if Stephanie Enyart wasn't stressed enough when she took the Law School Admissions Test, the man hired by the exam administrators to read the questions to the legally blind Berkeley woman turned up sick. He sneezed and coughed. The words came out in a nasal mumble. He interrupted his reading every few minutes to blow his nose, use the restroom or get tea to ease his congestion. Even though she was allotted double time to compensate for her disability, Enyart said her score also suffered because she was denied the use of her computer software programs that magnify text and convert it to speech heard through an ear bud. Enyart, however, did well enough to get into UCLA Law School and graduated this spring.

The quiet effort to take the child away from Leigh Campbell-Earl and Bill Earl began, as such cases often do, with an anonymous telephone call to county social services workers: There is a woman in East Lansing, Mich., about to have a baby, the caller said, and she is far too disabled to care for it. Her husband uses a wheelchair, too. Shouldn't the county investigate? No one knows how many people with severe disabilities are becoming parents.

A coalition of disability rights advocates filed a class-action suit Thursday seeking to stop Los Angeles County from closing the renowned Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, says the closure would violate the federal Americans With Disabilities Act and other legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disabilities, because many patients would have nowhere else to turn for treatment.

A Bay Area advocacy group filed a federal lawsuit charging the Robinsons-May department-store chain with violating the Americans With Disabilities Act, citing aisles too narrow and counters too tall for wheelchairs, among other things. The suit, filed by Disability Rights Advocates, comes seven months after the group won a judgment against Macy's West, owned by Federated Department Stores Inc., forcing the company to make a variety of changes at its flagship San Francisco store.